[Taxacom] Learning R fast: Any recommendations?

[Martin Fikáček]

Hola Jorge,

in my experience, R learning goes always hard if you keep it as "learning R
basics", "learning an R syntax", without any specific goal. It is like
learning a new language: if you just decide to learn Japanese, you will be
struggling.

For me, and in my experience also for most students I ever met, it works
much better to "learn R" as a by-product of trying to run some real
analysis in the R environment. Set your goal - like I want to take my data
X and do this and that with them. In this way, you will narrow down the
things you need to learn, and you will work with real (your) data, so you
will understand more easily what the commands are doing or what you are
doing wrong.
In other words, set your goal in the way: I want to learn how to buy
breakfast in Japanese. This is a much smaller goal, so you make it more
easily. Naturally, you will not be able to discuss philosophy in Japanese,
but by learning simple breakfast conversation, you will also learn some
basic principles of the language you may later use when you will "widen"
your conversation scope to other topics. Same with R - if you learn how to
do one thing, you will as a by-product learn some basics of the syntax and
basic logic of R scripting which will make it possible to expand to other
tasks in R later.

Martin

čt 1. 4. 2021 v 12:08 odesílatel Jorge A. Santiago-Blay via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> napsal:

> Dear Colleagues:
>
> For over two years, I have been attending R courses and, in my opinion, I
> have failed to learn R. Instead of blaming the professors, I feel the
> problem may be that I do not have the necessary background to learn R
> and/or, thanks to the insight that a kind professor offered me today,
> learning R through a class where topics must be ''covered'' by a certain
> time (and good luck if one may not have ''gotten it'') may *not* be the
> best way for me to learn R.
>
> Question: Can you recommend free videos available on the web (there are
> oodles) that have helped *you*, or people you know, learn R? Ideally, I
> would like to learn R as fast as I can.
>
> If you have constructive recommendations, please send them directly to me:
> blayjorge at gmail.com . Thank you and apologies for potential duplicate
> emails.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jorge
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-- 
*Martin Fikáček (費卡契) MSc. PhD.*
*Department of Biological Sciences*
*National Sun Yat-sen University*
*No. 70, Lienhai Rd., Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan*
*E-mail: *mfikacek at gmail.com, mfikacek at mail.nsysu.edu.tw
*Phone: *(+886) 75252000 # 3677
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